heteronormativity / diversity in foreign language pedagogy

[Anna Ronell]

Hi, just thought to add my two cents to this discussion. Growing up in
the USSR and later being part of the Russian-Jewish communities both
in Israel and the US has taught me that me that Russian culture in
general (and its Soviet variant specifically) are extremely
homophobic, racist, and misogynist. The level of intolerance I have
encountered is mind-boggling, which is what I usually honestly tell
the students. It is especially important to warn the students who plan
to travel to Russia that the tolerance towards sexual difference they
take for granted in the US should not be expected in Russia.


On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Kevin Moss <moss at middlebury.edu> wrote:
> My colleagues at Middlebury have begun addressing issues of
> heteronormativity in language pedagogy both at Middlebury and the schools
> abroad. If Seelangers out there have any thoughts on this, I'd love to hear
> them. We're now expanding the discussion to include other kinds of diversity
> as well (race, class, disability, where appropriate).
>
> Here were our original questions and the feedback from the first meeting:
>
> Some topics we should address:
>
> 1. How to make space in dialogues / roleplay for non-normative gender and
> sexuality, family structures, romance.
>
> 2. How can we teach terms / concepts in the target language for sexual
> identity: slang, in-group language, pejorative terms.
>
> 3. Textbooks: which textbooks actually allow this to happen and how can we
> supplement those that don't?
>
> 4. Cultural context in the target country(ies), including what not to say.
> What is the legal and social status of queers?
>
> Feedback from the first meeting last year:
>
> Several students commented on skits, videos, or activities that seemed to
> reinforce gender/sexuality archetypes. Some faculty did not allow, for
> example, two male-identified students to participate in a dialog between
> marriage partners. Some class activities were described as “appallingly
> normative.” In most cases, if the students themselves took the initiative to
> point out these situations to faculty, they later became more open. The
> general impression is that faculty are worried that other (presumably
> heterosexual and normatively gendered) students would feel uncomfortable
> with queering activities, that it’s more a case of “harmless ignorance” than
> an intentional policy. But should the burden of correcting the erasure of
> queerness be on the students? Some students also commented that while
> occasionally students did perform the “other” gender in dialogs, this often
> became an object of exaggerated gender performance and humor.
>
> Some suggestions / best practices / things to consider:
>
> 1. Faculty can acknowledge discomfort or ignorance about the topic, rather
> than merely remaining silent.
>
> 2. Make space in dialogs, skits, videos for non-heteronormative families and
> romance.
>
> 3. We should find and share any resources out there, for example in ESL
> pedagogy, that can serve as a model for addressing gender and sexuality in
> an inclusive way. Invite language departments to think about how their
> curriculum addresses these issues.
>
> 4. Some textbooks have been updated, and we would like to see inclusion of
> queer gender and sexuality as well as race / ethnicity / disability in any
> new materials we produce, including addressing these issues in the K12
> language initiative.
>
>  5. Gender segregation in dorms both during the academic year and in
> Language Schools naturalizes gender in a way that may make some students
> uncomfortable.
>
>  6. Gender and queer issues should be addressed in the preparation of
> students for study abroad, both in upper-level courses and in the
> orientation sessions run by the study abroad office (this happened last year
> already and should be continued).
>
> Kevin Moss
>
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